I don't believe the Psalmist understands the cold like we do here in Kentucky. When he writes about snow like wool, I don't think he is envisioning three feet of snow. He is most likely thinking about a light cover that looks like a thin blanket over everything, pure and clean. Frost like ashes? How about ice storms that bring down the strongest trees! Maybe he is thinking of the beautiful frost that sparkles in the sun but is shortly gone. Hail like crumbs!! How about marble sized that can damage a car or the reported baseball size from some place within the state yet always not your backyard?

Yet, then he writes that God sends out His Word, and it melts them. He could have mentioned a summer breeze or the melting caused by a Spring sunrise. Yet he wrote, God sends out His Word, and melts them. Something other than a weather report is going on here.

What do we do when its cold? We wrap up in blankets, my mother would remind me to wear layers, and, if we have the choice, we stay inside protecting ourselves from getting colder. We wait for the treacherous snow and damaging ice to melt away.

What about our inner coldness? They say that hypothermia will cause a person to slowly loose all their senses, making falling asleep most dangerous, and then everything freezes, the center of warmth being the last to turn to ice. When someone close to us has hurt us, we also grow cold. We pull inside, close off our sensitivities. If we do this too well or for too long, our ability to feel deadens until it feels like we are always half asleep, dull and wanting less to do with life. We may get the name “Ice Queen” or someone might say the “He is so cold.”

Even Christmas, with all its materialism and stress can leave us cold. Yet, this is not the way God created us. We are not cold-blooded creatures, cold hearted creations. It still happens to us though, the hardships and disappointments that cause us to pull away, wrap ourselves up and not go “outside” again. And will the world come knocking to see where you are? Sadly, most of the world will live down to the phrase “Cold, cruel world.” Sometimes it feels like we will never be warm again.

Jesus came because the faith of that time had frozen over, there was no warmth in the list of cold regulations and formalized rituals only open to the religious hierarchy. Jesus came to light a fire for His faith and His people. Rub their hands until they could feel the tingle of life again. Put His hands on the frozen faces, get the spiritual juices flowing again.

When I am real cold and walk into a warm room, the first place I feel the warmth is in the areas where I am most cold, my fingers, face, ears and nose. It feels like the warmth knows where to go if I stand there long enough and let it happen. Jesus is that warm fire, seeking out those frozen places in our hearts and souls. And what do we do when we see and feel that warm fire? We don't walk away but walk toward the warm glow. We hold those places that are most cold towards the warming light. Hands reach towards the flame; we take off our hats and scarves to let the warmth in. We sit and stare into the fire, thankful for the warmth of the flames until the cold is melted away and we just want to stay there for awhile. Jesus calls us to sit by His fire, thaw out those areas that are coldest and sit awhile.

Oh yes, and when another enters the room from out in the cold, we wave them to our fire. We invite them to unburden themselves of all that protective gear, to sit and warm themselves by the fire. There are many out in the cold in our world. As you leave here today, be aware of the frozen around you and invite them to our fire in Christ.